^^aiBRARY OF Congress. 



i^. 



Chap. 



Shelf. 









w. w. 

<3gi7^ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.r^^ 

W>S^. 9-167 gr^gg 



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'\ ^ n 



SPBECH 



OF 



HON. Nr J. HAMMOND, LL.D., 



Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the 
University of Georgia. 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE JOINT SESSION OF THE 
GENERAL ASSEMBLY NOVEMBER 17, 1897. 



** The question of the child should displace that of the criminal; 
the building up of our people more important than that which treated 
of their falling down." 




ATLANTA, GA. 

(Franklin Printing and Publishing Company.) 

Geo. W. Harrison, State Printer. 

1897. 



)1 



g3 



b-,.v 



HISTORIC SCENE IN JOINT SESSION. 



The speech of the Hon. N. J. Hammond, LL.D., Chairman of the Board 
•of Trustees of the University of Georgia, was published in the daily Constitution 
of November 18th, 1897, with the following editorial: 



A TEST 

OF STRENGTH. 



TBiere was an inter- 
esting test of strength 
In the proceedings 
which preceded the re- 
ception of the senate 



by the house of representatives Wednes- 
day. 

When, on the day before, the house 
liad before it the request of the trustees 
of the state uni\ersityto be given a heai'= 
ing in joint session, since the message 
they had to deliver was intended for the 
entire general assembly, Mr. Blalock and 
a number of his partisans made an effort 
to have the petition sidetracked by grant- 
ing an hour in the evening for the pur- 
pose stated. In the proceedings which 
followed, as indicated yesterday, it be- 
came plain that the house of representa- 
tives Would not consent to such side- 
tracking of an important occasion, and 
that the temper of the members was to 
give the trustetrs the hearing which they 
■desired. Receding then from their ^ex- 
treme position, the opponents of the uni- 
versity moved that the hearing be in 
committee of the whole, thus confining 
it to the house alone, and not in joint 
session. The specious plea was made 
that, if the trustees should come before 
the house, they should come in commit- 
tee of the whole so that they might be 
questioned. There was a great deal of 
mystery about important questions 
which might be asked. The friends oi 
the university, desiring no wrangle and 
satisfied of the justice of their cause, 
consented to this motion, and the order 
was made for the reception of the 
trustees by the house in committee of 
the whole at 11 o'clock on the day fol- 
lowing. 



In the meanf^me the senate, which had 
been equally notified by the governor of 
the desire of the trustees to meet the 
general assembly in joint session, 
promptly granted it, and fixed the hour 
of 10:30 o'clock for the hearing. ^When 
this action of the senate was conveyed 
to the house an hour or two before the 
appointed time, the adherents of Mr. 
Blalock again rallied and made an at- 
tempt, first, to amend the senate's joint 
resolution by making it a night session 
instead of during the morning hour. The 
many pleas which were put up for avoid- 
ing the joint meeting were amusing. But 
finally, when called to a vote, the friends 
of the university rallied, and by a vote 
of almost 3 to 1 they decided to concur 
with the senate, and to give the trustees 
that fitting reception about which there 
should ^have been at no time any ques- 
tion upon the part of anybody. When, 
therefore, the secretary of the senate 
announced to the speaker that that body 
was at the door, and when a few mo- 
ments later the board of trustees, head- 
ed by Governor Atkinson and Former 
Governor McDaniel, entered the hall, 
it was old Georgia again — the Georgia 
which had pride in its past and ambition 
in its future, and a spirit too broad for 
any petty policy, and indicative of the 
great future ahead. It was a test ot 
strength — it meant that there would be 
no hesitation in the onward march of 
Georgia; it meant that her son^ would 
be true to her interest, and that -no one 
need have any fear for Georgia as long 
as such sentinels are upon the watch- 
tower. 



THE SPEECH 
OF HON. N". y. 
HAMMOND. 



The appearance of 
Hon N. J. Hammond, 
in his character as 
chairman of the 
board of trustees of 
the state university, 
before the joint session, was remarkable 
in many respects. Immediately facing 
him sat the present governor and one of 
the most respected of our former gover- 
nors. Ranged in a circle were the dis- 
tinguished members of the board ot , 
trustees of the university — prominent 
among whom was the trembling but stal- 
wart form of Hon. William H. Felton. 
The senate was present in full strength — a 
body of forceful men whose faces gave 
plain indication that by no action of 
theirs should the standard of Georgia be 
lowered in any particular. Then the 
seats of the house were filled. Scattered 
all over il were to be seen men famous 
in the history of Georgia, as well as 
those upon whose young shoulders'- the 
future rests. They were assembled to 
listen to the discussion of one of the 
most important questions which can ever 
agitate a people. A significant incident 
had just preceded their assembling. One 
of the distinguished members of the 
house, in his anxiety to bring thfe convict 
question forward, insisted that it had 
the right of way under the rules. No mat- 
ter how the decision was reached that he 
was in error, the fact remains that such 
a decision was reached — that the ques- 
tion of the child should displace that of 
the criminal; that the building up of our 
people was more important than that 
which treated of their falling down. 

Mr. Hammond never spoke in b€tter 
voice or to more effective purpose. He 
traced clearly the duties which devolved 
upon the two committees whose work is 
now the subject of discussion in the two 
branches of the general assembly. He 
went on to say that the first committee, 
popularly known as the Brown commit- 
tee, was a joint committee organized in 
1896 for the purpose of investigating ful- 
ly and specifically the status of the 
university as regards education, with 
the express injunction that nothing they 



should do should impair the usefulness 
of the institutions of the state. Then 
several months later another committee 
was "'^organized — a house committee and 
not joint — whose sole authority to exist 
was to audit the books and accounts ot 
the different institutions, and to whom 
was not committed any question of poli- 
cy attaching to any of the departments. 
Having thus made clear the duty which 
rested upon the two committees, Mr. 
Hammond went into the main question 
and traced the early history of the uni- 
versity, how it was tne outcome of the 
ardent desire of early Georgians for edu- 
cation, how faithfully it had performed 
its work through all the years until the 
present time. iFrom that he took up 
the charge that the university was in 
some way inimical to the denomination- 
al .^•colleges, and went on to show that 
the taxation complained of by the de- 
nominational colleges was in the natural 
trend of legislation throughout the Unit- 
ed States; that for all legislation of that 
character presented in congress the 
Georgia members had voted; that in the 
convention of 1877, where were present 
Baptists and Methodists, graduates of 
'Mercer and of Emory, without a dissent- 
ing voice they agreed to those very sec- 
tions which some of their adherents at 
this day claimed to have been placed 
there as an act of antagonism. Mr. 
Haramond successfully disproved any ef- 
fort to make it appear an act of antag- 
onism, and showed that it was the trend 
of modern legislation. Turning back 
from this point, the speaker took up 
the land scrip fund, traced its purposes 
and quoted the eloquent appeal of the 
lamented Ben Hill, in which he stated 
that the great and overwhelming need 
of Georgia was education — education 
where her. brain, mind and heart might 
be developed to their fullest capacity. 
From that to the disposition of the land 
scrip lund, which was participated in by 
Bishop Pierce, by Robert Toombs, by 
Benjamin Hill and by other men illus- 
trious in Georgia, against whose patriot- 
ism no •'charge could be brought — these 
were the men who accepted this money, 
and these were the men who have out- 



lined the manner in which the money 
should be earned hy the university. To 
attack their work would be to attack 
themselves, and consequently the read- 
ing of their names was the most com- 
plete answer which could be made to 
that phase of the question. 



SUBJECT 
TO THE 



But the claim was 
made that the college 
lacked in its practical 
application of agricul- 
XEGISLATURE. ture. It was at this 
point that Mr. Ham- 
mond made a telling stroke when he re- 
minded the legislature that the trustees 
of the university were but the creatures 
■of the law; that they had acted up to 
the present time in full obedience to the 
law and within its limits; that it was no 
part of their duty, nor was it permittee 
to them to spend one cent in buying 
ground upon which to carry out a prac- 
tical farm. The very act under which 
this money was donated by the United 
States, and under which it was accepted 
by the state, provided that 10 per cent of 
the ^money could be devoted to the pur- 
chase of such a farm. That was an act 
which devolved upon the legislature, and 
not upon the trustees. During all the 
years since Geor^a has had possession 
of this money she has had in her treas- 
ury continuously $24,300 w^hich her leg- 
islature could have devoted to that pur- 
pose, but which it has persistently failed 
to do. Who should be blamed therefor 
— the legislature which had the money 
and failed to appropriate it, or the 
trustees who had not the money and 
who remained within the limit of their 
legal powers? 

The speech of Mr. Hammond was able, 
logical and convincing. He went into 
the very meat of the argument, and he 
so laid bare the purposes and objects 
of the law, the work of the university 
trustees and the duty of legislatures, 
that there was no possible answer which 
could be made to him. When at the 
conclusion of his speech, it was an- 
nounced that those mooted questions 
which had been whispered about might 



be asked, there was not one who had the 
temerity to rise in his place and begin 
the work of catechising. It was a* splen- 
did tribute to the ability of the distin- 
guished chairman of the board of 
trustees, whose unanswerable defense of 
Georgia's great institution of learning 
forbade the asking of the questions 
which were so ominously threatened. 

One of the most not- 

HON. WILLIAM ^^^^ scenes which has 

ever been witnessed 

H. FELTON'S .„ .^^ ^ • , • i 

in the Georgia legisla- 

SPEECH. tive assembly was the 

last appearance, prob- 
ably, in public of the venerable and dis- 
tinguished Dr. William H. Felton. 

It was with trembling step and un- 
steady gait, calling for the support of 
those who walked by him, that this dis- 
tinguished Georgian took hiS' place in 
the charmed circle which surrounded 
the speaker's desk in the house of rep- 
resentatives. It was with one acclaim 
that members of the house and senate 
called upon him to go to the stand that 
they might once more hear his sonorous 
voice and witness that famous "halle- 
lujah lick^' for which he haS' been so dis- 
tinguished. Responding to their call, 
the doctor was helped to the speaker's 
stand, where he sat, not having the abil- 
ity to keep upon his feet. A death-like 
stillness prevailed, but the strong, clear 
voice of the speaker, so striking in con- 
trast to his feeble appearance, could 
have broken tumult and commanded 
peace even in the camp of his enemies. 
He spoke as a farmer to farmers; he 
spoke as a Georgian to Georgians: he 
spoke as a university alumnus to men 
who were anxious to place Georgia high 
in the rank of educational progress. His 
feeling references to the commencement 
exercises of the years between 1840 and 
1850— years which gave to Georgia such 
distinguished men — were heard with 
sympathetic interest. 

While his speech in behalf of the uni- 
versity was on an entirely different line 
from that which had been followed by 
Mr. Hammond, it was far-reaching in its 



effect upon his auditors. It did not take 
the speaker long to place himself in the 
hearts oT his hearers and to appeal to 
the manhood of Georgia for future gen- 
erations. He made one of the strongest 
arguments which has ever heen heard, 
in one respect, when he brought out the 
point that the university was the prop- 
erty of the state. If a business man 
owned a piece of property and found 
that it was not being managed accord* 
Ing to his ideas, would he dismantle and 
destroy it, would he abandon it and seek 
a new place or would he proceed to rem- 
edy the evil existing? In other words, 
if a man owned a house and found it 
was leaking, would he move out and 
leave the building to the bats or would 
he send for a man and have the repairs 
made? The university is Georgia's ed- 
ucational property. The legislature has 
the right, unquestioned, to displace the 
entire board of trustees and to elect a 
new board, if by doing that, compliance i 
with the legislative will can be had. The 
legislature has the right, unquestioned, 
to fix the course of study from the firsi 
year to the last. It has the right to 
make important or unimportant, as it 
chooses, any department in the course of 
study. If the agricultural department 
is not being managed as it should be, the 



duty of the legislature is plain — it is to. 
command the trustees to make such 
changes as may be necessary, and these 
trustees', as the servants of the legisla- 
ture, will not be slow in rendering obe- 
dience. 

The fact that the members felt that 
this was the last time the doctor might 
ever address them gave a melancholy 
tinge but increased the interest with 
which they heard his words and the im- 
pression which his parting advice might 
make upon them. 



SinVtlilED 
UP. 



The day was a grand 
triumph for the uni- 
versity. Face to face- 
with the whole sub- 
ject, with the history^ 
which the university 
has made, with the trustees who now con- 
trol it, with all of the arguments present- 
ed, opposition and criticism meTfed away 
as darkness before the rising sun. The 
occasion was a masterful resurrection of 
the true Georgia spirit, which has 
bouyed up the state in the past and 
which will carry her to a glorious fu- 
ture. 



I I ' s 



MR. HAMMOND'S GREAT SPEECH. 



Full Text of his Magnificent Defense of Georgia's University. 



Mr. President, Mr. Speaker and Gentle- 
men of the General Assembly: I am the 
mouthpiece this morning, by authority, of 
the board of trustees of the university. 
They by law are public servants, subject 
to the control of the general assembly. In 
the university no man of them has any 
personal interest. For serving the univer- 
sity, no man of them gets any pay, except 
occasional thanks and much criticism. We 
have been selected according to the forms 
of law to take charge of a great public 
interest. Ton, as the guardians over us, 
are inquiring into that administration. We 
desire to present in our own way, subject, 
if you please, to any questions which you 
desire to ask upon any pertinent question, 
the views which we have on the important 
matters which now divide public senti- 
ment. 

The Hostile Sentiment. 

I may be pardoned for saying that there 
is in the air some hostile sentiment to the 
university. I believe that every man who 
feels unkindly to it feels so because he is 
misinformed or uninformed as to the 
whole facts concerning the matter. It is 
not at all uncommon for everybody to 
make mistakes about everything, and 
therefore it is no harm for everybody, 
however intelligent they are and whatever 
their position, to hear both sides before 
making a judgment. When I was a school- 
boy, in the little copy of "Watts on the 
Mind," in which I learned to read, there 
was this story: Timon had a dog, which 
went into a church on the Sabbath day, 
and a man pulled out his pistol and shot 
the dog dead. An old sister said: "What 
a shame! Timon' s dog was the gentlest 
dog in the city, the most lovable dog in 
the city, and for that man to shoot him! 
What business had he with a pistol in his 
pocket and to shoot it off at that dog while 
the holy gospel was being preached?" 
Some man said, "Wait, that was the best 
dog in town, that is true, but he went 
mad"— and the old sister then said: "What 
a blessing it was that the man had his 
pistol and could shoot him to prevent 
harm being done!" She had simply heard 
from the other side and changed her opin- 
ion, thaf was all. She was right on the 
facts which she first had; she got right on 
all the facts, by a change in her mind, 
after hearing the other side. 

What brings us here? Two committees 
were raised in this general assembly last 
winter. The resolution creating one of 
them was approved on the 22d of Decem- 
ber, 1896, and is to be found at page 337 
of the Georgia Acts of 1896. It made a 
joint committee of representatives and sen- 
ators, and authorized them to call upon 
the chairman of the board of trustees and 
two other members of the board of tru&- , 



tees to be selected by him, who should 
confer upon the following subjects: "To 
ascertain the amounts received by the 
state university from the federal govern- 
ment; to investigate and determine if this 
money is being properly applied and used 
in such manner as will best promote the 
interests for which it was intended, and 
to report the result of their investigations 
to the next session of this house, accom- 
panied by such suggestions and recom- 
mendations as will, in their judgment, best 
promote the specific interest for which said 
money is appropriated, and at the same 
time make such recommendation as will 
provide for the state university In such 
manner as becomes the state of Grcorgia 
to care for her principal institution of 
learning." That committee is called (and 
I speak of it so because you better under- 
stand Tt that way) by the name of its 
honored chairman, the Brown committee. 

Another resolution was passed that is 
not published in the acts because it was 
not joint, but simply a resolution of the 
house. This was passed on the 3d of Feb- 
ruary, 1897, and was as follows: "Resolved, 
That a committee of .five be appointed by 
the speaker of the house, whose duty it 
shall be to investigate each of the differ- 
ent departments of the state government 
and also the different institutions of the 
state, and to report to the next session of 
the general assembly the expense of main- 
taining each of said departments and in- 
stitutions and recommending such reforms 
and rules of retrenchment as in its wisdom 
may be advisable without injury to the 
said departments or institutions." That 
committee was appointed and is known as 
the Blalock committee. 

Trustees Not Notified. 

You will observe now that the joint com- 
mittee was made and intrusted with a spe- 
cific object. Its number was twelve, like 
a jury. It was to notify the trustees of the 
investigation, so that the trustees might 
appear and examine witnesses, cross-ex- 
amine, and all that. That committee took 
testimony, which I suppose (I have a right 
to suppose) will be produced before this 
body when it makes a report. With that 
committee existing by law, charged with 
the specific object of making this inquiry, 
I put it to every candid man. what right 
have we to suppose that the Blalock com- 
mittee would do more than go and inves- 
tigate our finances and see whether we 
had economically expended the money that 
was in our charge? That resolution made 
no provision for notice to the trustees. 
The trustees had no notice of their sitting. 
We met in June, after that resolution had 
been passed. As a body we invited the 
Blalock committee to meet us at -Athens 




during the week that the law compelled us 
fo sit there, and they acknowledged the 
receant of our invitation, but they came 
not. If, therefore, it did not suit their con- 
venience to be there until vacation, are we 
to be blamed for it? I am not blaming 
them. But are we to be blamed that they 
did not meet us? Some newspaper said 
that they were not well organized under 
the law, and that the trustees ought to pay 
no attention to them. Lest a false impres- 
sion would get out in that regard, I pub- 
lished over my official signature that 
everything that the trustees had at Ath- 
ens or elsewhere was subject to their in- 
spection, of which they had notice— perhaps 
not served according to law— but they 
went; they saw; they reported that our 
finances were all right. I have been told 
today that they wrote to our chancellor a 
letter that ttiey were coming there, which 
letter was received in Athens on Saturday 
night, when he was away, and by his wife 
was sent to Dr. White on the following 
Monday, and that they came there on 
Monday, and that they saw Dr. White and 
Professor Hunnicutt, and perhaps others 
for aught I know, but no trustee was no- 
tified of their coming. No trustee, I sub- 
mit, would have anticipated that they 
needed more than our treasurer at their 
meeting to do their duty. I have no comr- 
.plaint to make, but when they take that 
view we ought not to be prejudiced by an 
opinion made when we were not notified 
of the meeting. 

Before 1 go away from this, and with 
a view to come back to it if it be necessa- 
ry, I wish to call your attention pointedly 
to both resolutions, concluding with the 
declaration in the Blalock committee that 
ho one of these institutions shall, and in 
the other that the university shall not 
suffer any detriment, "We charge you," 
said the general assembly, "as our public 
servants, to go and make certain investi- 
gations, but you shall touch not the life 
of that institution, touch not its limbs; 
"do it no harm." And this general assembly 
has pronounced judgment in advance, 
therefore, that if anything they recom- 
mend will do it harm, they will have gone 
beyond their power in the premises. 

About Dr. Boggs. 

We are here for another reason. For the 
first time in the history of the state the 
chancellor was not allowed to address the 
general assembly in the day time. I know 
you did it with a view to save expenses; 
I know how valuable your time is; but, 
members of the general assembly, when 
you consider how important is that in- 
terest, not only ito yourselves, but to 
posterity, I beg of you hereafter to give 
an hour, or two if it be necessary, when 
the chancellor comes under the statute 
and says he is here according to law to 
tell you what he thinks about the condi- 
tion and interests and wants of the uni- 
versity. 

I may say— I will say— that because I 
was here and saw that the general assem- 
bly w^as not here to hear his speech, I 
was anxious that we should in some way 
appear before you, and I am afraid that 
in your effort to save time in not hearing 
the chancellor you have lost time in get- 
ting us in here. Not that I expect to oc- 
cupy as .much time as he did. but it took 
sonae time to get us in. 



Certain things have been said with re- 
gard to the action of the trustees that 
need review, and I have determined in 
certain portions of my argument to read 
to you certain extracts that I have made, 
rather than bring the books before you, 
and because that was more convenient, 
and especially because I wished to be ac- 
curate in what I say. Therefore, if I seem 
to keep my eyes too much on paper, un- 
derstand that the purpose is to keep my- 
self to the truth. It is sa.d that on certain 
occasions, when Aristides was about to 
address the people of Athens, he prayed 
all the gods that he might speak nothing 
but the truth. Fellow citizens, I pray to 
that unknown God, of whom Paul told 
Athens five htindred years afterward, that 
I, a public servant, discussing a great pub- 
lic interest this day, shall speak nothing 
but the truth— the truth as I understand it, 
the truth as I understand the history of 
the country will prove, the truth as I 
invite you to examine and see for your- 
selves its verity. 

The So-Called SCostile I/egislation. 

It has been said by some that the uni- 
versity and its friends had been and are 
enemies to denominational educational in- 
stitutions in the state. That cannot be 
true, in the light of history. The constitu- 
tion of 1877 was made by the best men, 
selected by the best people all over the 
state of Georgia. It was to get rid of the 
constitution of 1868 that we understood had 
not been made by us. Take a list of the 
members of that convention which made 
that constitution, and recall who they 
were and what they were, and we will need 
no other reply to persons who make such 
charges. 

Some have claimed that certain sections 
of the constitution of 1877 were inserted 
therein for the express purpose of injuring 
the denominational colleges of this state. 
Let any one of you take the list of mem- 
bers of the convention which made that 
constitution and recall who they were and 
what they were, and he will need no 
reply, we think, to the charge. We would 
ilot be invidious by mentioning individuals; 
but take a few of distinguished Baptists — 
Respess. Joe Warren and his venerable 
father, one of the charter members of Mer- 
cer; Tharpe, one of its oldest graduates; 
Porter, Gibbs, Jackson, Judge Lawson, also 
one of its trustees; Matthews, Judge 
James Brown, the eloquent Judge Wright, 
of Rome. (The head of the Baptist college 
has not spoken here, and we count his 
silence as disapproval.) Among Methodists 
take such men as Tim Purlow, the brilliant 
young George Pierce, your present mem- 
ber. Pace, one of the trustees of Emory, 
and many others who might be named. 
Take Flewellyn, not a Methodist, but a 
member of the Brown committee. Did those 
men. in making the constitution, have 
any idea of fighting Emory and Mercer? 

In 1848 the great agricultural state of 
Wisconsin declared: "Nor shall any money 
be drawn from the treasury for the bene- 
fit of religious societies or religious or the- 
ological seminaries." In one form or other, 
that has been repeated since that time 
in sixteen of our twenty-three constitutions 
that have been made during that interval. 
In 1850, by Michigan; in 1851, by Indiana 
and Ohio; in 1857, by Oregon; in 1859, by 
Kansas; in 1864, by Nevada and Maryland. 



Maryland, the home of the grand old Bish- 
op Emory, for whom that institution was 
named, in its constitution of 1864 forbade 
any gift even by private persons, without 
legislative sanction, by deed or will, lo 
any minister, public preacher or preacher 
of the gospel, or denomination as such, or 
to their support or benefit, except land, not 
more than five acres, for sites to be used 
only for such church or burial grounds. 
And that was repeated in her constitution 
of 1867, though both required belief in Gou 
and a future state of rewards and punish- 
ments to make one competent as a juror. 
Recall the fact that while Maryland was 
the first state which procla.med freedom 
of conscience in this union, at or about 
1867, nearly one-third of her great city 
Baltimore was owned by the Catholic 
church alone. The same thing was declared 
in the constitution of Nebraska in 1866, 
and in 1868 Mississippi put into her con- 
stitution the provision of that of Ohio. 
It was in the constitution of 1868 of the 
state of Georgia, in that of 1870 of Illinois, 
in Pennsylvania's of 1873. in Missouri's of 
1875, in Colorado's of 1876, arid Texas in 
1876 in her constitution declared: "And no 
law; shall ever be enacted appropriating 
any part of the permanent or available 
school fund to any other purpose what- 
ever; nor shall the same or any part there- 
of ever be appropriated to or used for the 
support of any sectarian school." 

In August, 1876, in the house of repre- 
sentatives of the United States, Mr. Blaine 
proposed to amend the constitution of the 
United States so that it would read as 
follows: "No state shall make any law 
respecting any establishment of religion, 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; 
and no money- raised by school taxation 
in any state for support of public ^cnoo s. 
or derived from any public fund therefor, 
nor any public lands devoted thereto, shall 
ever be under the control of any religious 
sect; nor shall any money be raised, or 
lands so devoted, be divided between re- 
ligious sects or denomination <? " That was 
voted upon on the 14th of August, lS7e. 
when it passed the house by a vote of ISu 
yeas to 7 nays. Among the yeas in the 
•house you will note Lamar, of Mississippi, 
the dead senator, one of Emory's greatest 
alumni; General Phil Cook, Dr. Felton 
and William E. Smith. In the sen- 
ate it was passed by 28 to 16, not 
having a two-thirds majority. Among the 
yeas in the senate were Thomas M. Nor- 
wood and John B. Gordon; and so far as 
I know (I have not looked at the record), 
no Georgian opposed it in the house. 

When, therefore, the suggestion of such 
a clause in our own constitution was miade, 
\t came as the natural result of the then 
condition of the public mind. It needed no 
animosity to any institution to frame it, 
and thougb each denominational institution 
in the state had many of its friends pres- 
ent, no man thought of making any charge 
of hostility to them, or of opposing the 
passage of the provision which prevents 
denominations from taking money out of 
the treasury. 

It has been also thought by some that 
the constitutional limitalea tax exemption of 
church property, etc., was prompted by 
like hostility. The foundation of that • 
charge is equally Taaseless. Let any one 
take up the journal of the Georgia constitu- 
tional convention of 1877, and look at the 
names of the committee on finance, taxation 



and public debt, at page 42, and then the 
committee on revision of the laws, at page 
54, and he will find both of thena made up 
largely of friends of the denominational 
colleges, of graauates from them, and of 
men whose constituency were deeply in- 
terested in their successes. At pages 351 and 
356. you will find that both in front of and 
below the clause which exempted church 
property, etc., various amendments were 
suggested and acted upon, but that nobody 
thought of enlarging the exemptions there- 
in proposed. See also the stenographic re- 
port of the discussions had in the conven- 
tion, at pages 296, 297, 298 and 299. The truth 
is that at that time nobody seemed to 
think tl^at any broader exemption of church 
property or church college property ought 
to be made, or was desirable. Certainly not 
one word of hostility to the denominational 
colleges was spoken, nor one suggestion 
by any of their friends that any hostile 
purpose existed. Why it should now be 
charged, we are at a less to know. If the 
general assembly should see proper to ex- 
empt a larger amount of church property, 
and denominational college property, the 
board of trustees of the University of 
Georgia, so far as we know, would vote 
like other citizens on the subject — perhaps 
some one way, perhaps some another. 
Having been in the board for twenty years, 
I do not recall ever to have heard any ex- 
pression from any member of the body on 
that subject. If any exemptions which 
those colleges did have were repealed by 
the constitution of 1S77, either their friends 
thought it right to repeal it, or were care- 
less, or perhaps did not know even of the 
exemption. We doubt whether any mem- 
bers of the board of trustees of the uni- 
versity knew of the existence of the act 
of 1857, unless they were such members as 
were also members of the boards of trus- 
tees of Emory or of Mercer. Up to within 
the legislative prohibition in the past few • 
years, it was not at all uncommon for the 
same persons to be members of both 
boards. We believe Judge James Jackson, 
Bishop . George F. Pierce. Governor Col- 
quitt and others were members of the 
boards of "both Emory anii of the Univer- 
sity up to their deaths. 

We recall all this history, not with a view 
to argue whether the constitution was 
right or wrong, but simply to vindicate 
ourselves against any charge of maliginity 
awa.;nst any denominational school on the 
part of p.ny friend of the university who 
viiay have narticipated. directly or indirect- 
ly, in aiding the making of that constitu- 
tioi'. 

For m-j self I say that an act selecting one 
or two or any ntimber of these colleges for 
exemption was and always will be wrong. 
The exemptions, limited or unlimited, should 
apply to all equally. 

The University Funds. 

Pardon me for a digression now to tell 
you what funds the university has. In 
1821. it had from the sale of lands given 
by the state in part, but more from the 
lands given us by that old friend of Thom- 
as Jefferson. John Milledge, the great 
grandfather of your librarian. $150,000 in pa- 
per, for which payments the lands them- 
selves were bound. But because they could 
not be collected regularly, because they 
were not a permanent investment. Georgia 
said. "I will take your $150,000 of paper and 
give you my obligation that I will owe you 



10 



$100,000 and pay you the interest on it for- 
ever, but never pay you the principal." 
That makes what the constitution calls 
the "constitutional debt" of the state. 
Then the legal interest in Georgia in com- 
merce was from ten to fifteen per cent. 
Georgia promised us 8 per cent, and she 
has paid it like an honest state ever since. 
Governor Gilmer died. He left 815,000 to be 
used for the education of school teachers. 
It was given to Toombs and Reese and Mc- 
Daniel and others, and they turned it over 
to us. That makes $15,000 of the funded 
debt, on which we draw 7 per cent, to edu- 
cate school teachers— given us by Gilmer. 
You didn't appropriate it. Terrell gave 
$20,000, on condition that we would use 
that for lectures in agriculture only, and 
that is finded in 7 per cents for the bene- 
fit of agriculture. It was given in 1854, 
long before the United States started to 
help. We had the chair in agriculture and 
the lectures in agriculture there before the 
act of 1862 gave us anything. Governor 
Joe Brown gave us $50,000— in what? In 8 
per cent Georgia bonds, and they were 
funded in 1881 under your authority, in 7 
per cent bonds. We got from Conley's sale 
of the lands given to us by the United 
States $243,000. The state, for some reasons 
too tedious to explain, did not turn it all 
over to us, but we got the interest. That 
which was turned over to us was funded, 
and 7 per cent is paid for that, for the 
uses as specified under tl>e acts of con- 
gress. 

Now let us look at the result. I do not 
mean hy these hgurts to blame anybody. 
I do not mean, to hurt anybody. Before 
God, I feel kindly this morning to all the 
world. I mention it to illustrate the argu- 
ment that I desire to put. That Metho- 
dist Who has done so much for Georgia, 
George Seney, gave Emory $125,000. Can 
Emory show it today? Has she not lost 
over $40,000 of it? Why? Because she had 
to go out in the market and get securities, 
and the securities themselves broke, rail- 
roads crumbled and Emory suffered. Take 
Johns Hopkins, the best institution in the 
whole southen states a«! to endowment^ ex- 
cept that of Texas, and she would have 
gone to the ground because of bad invest- 
ments tjut for the help of Baltimore to save 
its life. Take Pennsylvania university, the 
great institution whose investments were 
in the Lehigh Valley railroad, supposed to 
be the hest in the country. They had the 
bottom knocked out of them, and the state 
had to pocket the loss and give again to 
the University. Other Instances of such 
losses are everywhere. 

The act of 1881 declrred when we gxDt 
any money we should not go into the mar- 
ket and go about investing it in Central 
railroad or Georgia railroad stocks, or any 
thing else, but bring it here and put it in 
Georgia's treasury. She gives 7 per cent on 
It, not for our us"^. hut for hers, for the 
education of her children. It was wise, 
conservative, honest. There is talk about 
repealing it. Repeal it, if you like. It 
cannot hurt anybody now. The money is 
already funded. We can and are occasion- 
ally putting in another thousand dollars, 
as the interest accumulates on the Brown 
fund, and therehy enabling a few more 
Brown fund boys who are poor, to be edu- 
cated. If you wish to take it away, take 
It! But let It be understood that the board 
of trustees hegs you, in behalf of that 
fund, which they have been administering, 
and the good of which they know, to let 
It alone— to let It alone. 

Now, having spoken of that endowment. 



you aee what money we have. The de- 
tail. -3 you all get by the reports. They 
oug'ht to be known by heart to every Geor- 
gian. They have been published once a 
year ever since they happened, and some- 
limod many times a year. 

Now I want to say a word of history 
about free tuition ana that I may be accu- 
riie in that 1 intend to read the history. 

About Tree Tuition. 

The policy of Georgia originally was to 
admit no students free into hor schools 
or into Franklin college or the university, 
except those who came as paupers. Tne 
trustees of the university, then Franklm 
college, admitted the eons of ministers, or 
'boys preparing for the ministry, without 
charge, upon certificate of their inability to 
pay tuition, and also certain prize pcholars 
from different schools in the state. In the 
scholastic year 1869-70 there were twenty- 
seven free pupils, while all others paid $100 
tuition each. The constitution of 1868 abol- 
ished all distinction between the rich and 
poor in the common schools. 

In the summer of 1871 our lamented ex- 
senator, Hon. Benjamin H. Hill, made a 
speech, in which, after depicting the terri- 
ble disaster to our state consequent upon 
the war. he undertook to tell how alone 
cur fortunes could be restored; and I may 
say, how alone they have been restored— 
by what Emory and Mercer and the uni- 
versity and subordinate coUeges in the 
state have done. 

Speaking at our state university, he said 
in that speech, the reading and re-reading 
of which would greatly benefit every citi- 
zen of our state: 

"The beginning of ail improvement in 
Georgia lies in the enlargement of our 
system of education. Education is like 
water; to fructify, it must descend. Pour 
out fioods at the base of society, and only 
at the base, and it will saturate, stagnate, 
and destroy. Pour it out on the summit, 
and it will quietly and constantly percolate 
and descend, germinating every seed, feed- 
ing every root, until over the whole area, 
from summit to base, will spring 'the ten- 
der blade and then the ear, and then the 
full corn in the ear.' 

Mr. Hill seems to have had in mind the promise 
of Moses to the Israelites in the wilderness: "For 
the land whither thou goest in, to possess it, is not 
as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, 
where thou sowedst thy seed and watered it with 
thy foot, as a garden of herbs; but the land, whith- 
er ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, 
and drinketh water of the rain of heaven." 

Continuing, Mr. Hill said: 

"The first necessary step in any educa- 
tional system, therefore, and the first, the 
highest, the holiest duty now pressing 
upon every Georgian, is to build up this 
university. This is our summit. This is 
the Ararat on which the ark that bears all 
that is left of our old civilization must rest 
from the storms and waves of revolution, 
and send out the life and strength and hope 
of a better civilization, which shall not 
again be destroyed. 

"In organizing a complete university, I 
would, in the first place, preserve a full 
and rigid college curriculum for all who 
desire a strictly classical and literary edu- 
cation. I would then add all independent 
polytechnic schools, courses of study, ab- 
stract and applied, scientific, regular, and 
elective. I would provide every facility to 
make and accomplish the universal scholar 
and the special expert. Nothing desirable 
or useful in knowledge should be better or 
more thoroughly and cheaply acquirable 
elsewhere. I would have teaching by lee- 



11 



tures, by recitations, and by experiments 
and shifting examinations, individual and 
-class, written and oral. 

"In the next place, I would make tuition 
free in every department of the university. 
I would pull down the tollgates which bar 
the passage of light, and knowledge should 
go to the ignorant mind as air goes to the 
tired lungs, and water goes to the parched 
lips. Every father in Georgia sliould be 
taught to feel and made to rejoice that his 
son had a patrimony in the university of 

Those were the views of a statesman, as 

well as a Methodist, 

You may read the speech in "Benjamin H. 
Hill's Life and Speeches," by his son, at 
pages 345-6. 

In 1872 James M. Smith, the son of a 
Methodist preacher, who had himself toiled 
through poverty up to eminence, laboring 
In the blacksmith shop with his father for 
ia living, was the governor of our state. It 
fell to him as such to dispose of the $243,- 
000, the product of the lands granted by 
the United States under the act of 1862, 
which lands had been sold by Governor 
€onley. On the 30th of March, 1872, he de- 
livered that fund to the trustees of the 
university, under a contract that they 
would establish a college in the university 
to be known as the Georgia State College 
of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts. The 
contract specified the nine different pro- 
fessors and the subjects to be taught by 
them in that college. It provided that the 
engineering department of Franklin col- 
lege should be transferred to the new col- 
lege. It declared that said sum should be 
invested in seven-per-cent bonds of the 
^tate of Georgia. Issued under the act of 
January 18, 1872, "and that the money so 
invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, 
the capital of which shall remain forever 
undiminished, except as hereinafter men- 
tioned, and the interest of which shall be 
inviolably appropriated to the endowment, 
support and maintenance of the college, 
organized by the board of tnistees of the 
University of Georgia as hereinbefore set 
forth. That the leading object in said col- 
lege shall be, without excluding other scien- 
tific and classical studies, and Including 
military tactics, to teach such branches of 
learning, as are related to agriculture and 
the mechanic arts, in such manner as the 
legislature of this state may prescribe." 

The only diminution of the fund to be 
allowed was that 10 per cent of the $243,000 
might be expended for the purchase of 
lands for sites of experimental farms, 
"when authorized by the legislature of this 
state, and not otherwise." We had to have 
your authorization. And twenty-five years 
have passed, and the legislature has never 
authorized us to spend a dollar of that 
money for a farm. And yet we are blamed 
for not having a better farm, when you 
have got $24,300 of funds In your keeping to 
buy a farm, and we cannot spend 't until 
you say so, under the contract and the law 
of congress. 

The fifth article of that provision was: 
"Free tuition Is hereby granted in this 
college to as many students, residents o£ 
this state, as there are members of the 
general assembly of Georgia, and In addi- 
tion to this free tuition in the college, all 
such students are likewise entitled to the 
advantages of the different departments 
of the University of Georgia, without 
charge." 

Free tuition for fifty other students was 
igiVen. on condition that the recinienta 
should teach school for as many years as 
they were In the university. 

On February 6, 1873, the city of Athens 



donated $25,000 in her eight-per-oent bonds 
to the university, to be used in the con- 
struction of a building for the use of the 
State College of Agriculture and the Me- 
chanic Arts; and the legislature by act of 
February 10, 1874, ratified that issue of 
bonds, and provided that they or tlieir 
proceeds "shall be used solely for the pur- 
pose contemplated in the donation." 

In 1875 Dr. H. H. Tucker, the great Bap- 
tist divine, then chancellor of the univer- 
sity, in his address before the general as- 
sembly, said that there were then in the 
university 315 free scholarships, of which 
250 were chargeable to, the land scrip fund. 

Athens built the $25,000 house, the best 
which the university had up to 1896, and 
we have been drawing her 8 per cent ever 
since. The free scholars increased on the 
pay scholars until 1881, when the state made 
tuition, as Hill had said ten v^ars before it 
should be made, free to every department 
Of the university. The thlirty pay students 
in the university, out of the 155 in attend- 
ance at that time, were paying but about 
$2,100 tuition, and an appropriation of $2,0(;0 
enabled . and commanded the board to 
break down all distinctions between the 
classes of pay and free students. 

The men who were actors in this busi- 
ness, and who made the contract with 
Governor Smith, need no defense as to 
their motives and their purposes. When 
their names are mentioned, their own well- 
known h-istory will answer all charges that 
they were infiuenced by any narrow pur- 
pose, any design to injure any other insti- 
tutions, with anything covert, unmanly 
or unpatriotic. Many of them who joined 
In that contract with Governor Smith are 
dead. Among these are Charles .J. Jen- 
kins. Mark A. Cooper, W. L. Mitchell, Wil- 
liam Dougherty. R. D. Moure, H. V. M. 
Miller. David W. Lewis, Senator B. H. 
Hill. Judge Iverson L. Harris, Senator Jo- 
seph B. Brown. Robert Toom.bs, B. C. Yan- 
cey. Samuel Ba,r!ieit, D. A. Vason, ,!udge 
Jsmes Jackson, J. L. Seward, Bishop 
George F. Pierce, Judge M. J. Crawford, 
Judge Samuel Hall. Stephen Thomas, Bish- 
op John W. Beckwith, Judge James A. 
Gresham. Dunlap Scott, W. H. Hull. Gov- 
ernor James M. Smith, Y. L. G. Harris and 
John C. Rutherford. Those who lived when 
that contract was made, and are still with 
us, are J. A. Blllup®, D. C. Barrow, Lamar 
Cobb, M. P. Barrow, Senator A. O. Bacon. 
John Screven, Senator John B. Gordon and 
myself. Those who l-iad not died were still 
members in 1881. The board consisted of 
about forty persons when reorganized and 
reduced by law. but all the appointees were 
old members except Judge Hutchlns. 

Recalling that list of the trustees of 1872. and 
myself la^st, reminds me of Grady's speech at a 
table of millionaires in New York, when he said: 
'•Here are a dozen of us, representing in our own 
right two hundred millions of dollars, without 
counting me." In each name of those dead men 
is an argument in our favor. One could spend 
hours telling of their worth. I will only recall, as 
specially pertinent, that good man. Young L. G. 
Harris, of Athens, from whose will, this year, 
Emory had a magnificent gift', and the University 
got nothing, though he had lived so near it so 
many years. Can it be said that he was an enemy 
to denominational education in Georgia? Recall- 
ing the names of those mighty dead, with as noble 
a pride as swelled the bosom of the mother of the 
Gracchi, our old mother can say of them: "These 
are my jewels, each a diamond of the first water, 
brilliantly reflecting the glory of this common- 
wealth." 

The great Bishop George F. Pierce lived 
and moved amongst us, an active member 



12 



of the board of trustees of the universJty 
and of Emory col'-igj and a bishop of }ijs 
church, until 1884, when he died, leaving a 
path of glory beihiind him. Take him for 
a specimen of a man occupying a position 
who ought to have complained if any one 
should have, and ask any one to show you 
where he ever charged that in the matter 
of free tuition in the university any one 
had the thought, or any conduct justified 
the thought, that its purpose was to injure 
Emory or any other institution. Quote, if 
you please, any sentence that he ever ut- 
tered against free tuition in the university. 
Quote, if you please, any protest against 
funding the university fund. When such 
a man, by his position called on to speak, 
is silent, he becomes a witness for our slide. 

Not only was the board in existence in 
1S81, orgen.'zed as already mentioned, but 
the charter had been amended in 1878 so as 
to allow the Georgia State Agricultural So- 
ciety to add four additional trustees to the 
beard, who by the act were required to 
be "practical farmers, whose leading avo- 
cation shall be agriculture." Under that 
act of 1818-9, page 95. the agricultural so- 
cietv elected such men as James Fannin, 
of Troup; Felton, of Marshalsville; Byrd, 
of Polk, and our present representative 
from this district, Hon. L. F. Livingston. 

The bill of 1881 for free tuition was in- 
troduced by Judge N. L. Hutchins, not 
then a judge nor trustee of the university. 
It passed the house on the 17th of Septem- 
ber by 100 yeas to 30 nays. Among the yeas 
were duBignon, Miller, Northen, Turner of 
Munroe, and Peek. I stop a moment on 
Peek. He is- a farmer, as are many of you. 
We have had a controversy lately some- 
what in the newspapers, not elsewhere, be- 
tween two professors, on the question 
whether "agriculture" can be taught ped- 
agogically or not, one saying that there is 
no book writ'len on "agriculture" from 
which teaching may be made pedagogical- 
ly, and the other saying that while it is 
true that there is no book on the subject, 
he has compiled some notes which he pro- 
poses to have printed in a book when op- 
portunity offers and he shall feel financial- 
ly able. I allude to Professor Hunnicutt. 
Certain questions were put to Professor 
Hunnicutt by the Brown comrnittee, or in 
its presence. He was asked if there was 
any book on agriculture. He answered 
"there is no book on 'agriculture' as such, 
but I have some notes on the subject, and 
expect to have them made up into a book 
for use in teaching agriculture." In 1881, 
that farmer Peek introduced into the house 
of representatives a bill to appoint a com- 
mittee to get up and compile a book on 
"agriculture," because there was none. 
And I caU him to witness now and decide 
the dispute between White and Hunnicutt. 
The legislature wouldn't appropriate the 
money to make it. White says there Is 
none; Hunnicutt says there is one, but it 
is in his pocket. That Is the controversy. 
The trustees have nothing to do with it. 

That bill of 1881 for free tuition passed 
the senate on the 23d of September, by yeas 
26, by nays 13, with Governor Boynton, then 
president of the house, not voting. I men- 
tion that because these were good men who 
so voted. I Indorse every man's name whom 
I have called. They are men who did not 
do anything from light motives or un- 
patriotic purposes, but did these things be- 
cause they believed them to be right. If 
there had been no funding bill, we might 
have invested our funds in the Central 



railroad, and let them go to Davy Jones's 
lodger. You kept them dn your pocket,, 
and they are safe for your children for- 
ever. 

Some talk of paying 7 per cent interest 
to the university as a great thing. Does it 
moke a man poorer when he takes money 
oU)t of one pocket to put it into another? 

1 must hasten to a conclusion. 

The real reasons for free tuition actuating 
the board of trustees, so far as I know 
them (from having been a member of the- 
body since the act of 1871), were, first, to 
meet the demand for free education which 
bad been voiced by Rill in 1871, and to- 
break down the class distinctions between 
the agricutural students and the students 
in the other branches of the college, which 
to some were unpleasant and which the 
faculty reported to us were injurious to 
the institution. When we began that busi- 
ness, under the contract with Governor 
Smith in 1872, the keynote to all oar sub- 
sequent action was spoken by our "chan- 
cellor, old Dr. Lipscomb, in his report of 
October 24, 1872, in the following words: 

Against Separation. 

"On no account should the two schemes 
of education be dissevered. So far from 
being antagonistic, tliey help each other. 
So far from being incongruous, they are 
in perfect harmony. A specific and inde- 
pendent education in agriculture and the 
mechanic arts will be just as hurtful as 
any other sort of specific education. The 
harm is in the petty exclusiveness, the 
meager individuality, the insulated person- 
ality that all such systems generate. A 
community can never be made a v/ise and 
compact community if a single class is 
educated in a single thing, for the strength 
and grandeur of a community must always 
be in the ideas and feelings which, despite 
of the inevitable laws of social distinctions, 
are shared alike by all. If our young mind 
does not experience this coalescence of 
thought and sentiment by means of edu- 
cation, it is certain that no subsequent 
contact will ever issue in any union of 
opinion and action. 

"Apart from this great social effect noth- 
ing can be more beneficial than to bring 
together young men who propose to them- 
selves widely different spheres of educated 
life. 

"The competition is between mind and 
mind, and not between professions and 
trades. Furthermore, we shall give dignity 
to labor when we give intellect to labor, 
and this can only be done by educating our 
young men together for all the honorable 
pursuits of business." 

This utterance by the chancellor was not 
new. It was but the echo of the declara- 
tion of our great Chief Justice Lumpkin 
in 1849, when, in a case reported ih tlie 
sixth Georgia reports, p. 569, he declared 
that botany, chemistry and philosophy in 
all its branches had been in this country 
republicanized, and that all the professions 
should be here put upon a level with all 
other callings, and that "all factitious dis- 
tinctions in society, created by professions 
or anything else, should be discouraged." 

So far from injuring denominational col- 
leges. I verily believe that free tuition in 
the university has been their salvation,, 
as well as ours. The impulse thus given 
to the churches to bestir themselves has 
borne fruit a hundred fold. If that be 
true, whether the intention of the friends 
of the university was good or bad, if the 
result under providence has been to build 
up and magnify those educational institu- 
tions, and they are now prepared not only 






13 



to soar along by the side of, but even rise 
higher than the "old eagle," what would 
be the result If now the general assembly 
should forsake the university, and cut off 
the means by which free tuition became a 
reasonable and an accomplished fact? 

And now you are asked, while three eagles 
sail in freedom and independence in the mid 
air. to pluck the feather of free tuition 
from the old eagle, the university. Junius 
said. "The feathers which adorn the royal 
bird support his flight. Rob him of his 
plumage, and you fix him to the earth." 
You make a mistake if you think of abol- 
ishing free tuition in the university. If 
you do, w^here will you stop? You have 
been recently told from this place: stop 
at the "three R's." That means, then, 
that you must charge tuition at yovir tech- 
nological school; that means that you must 
compel payment of tuition at Milledgeville 
at your industrial school; that means, too. 
that you must charge tuition at the sepa- 
rate school of agriculture if you intend 
to establish one; because all of them are 
above the "three R's." Let me tell you 
before you abolish free tuition anywhere, 
ask the people who sent you here what 
they think about, it. I know that there are 
jiien who would like to abolish it in the 
university and nowhere else — some for one 
reason and some for another— mostly for 
mistaken reasons. Let me warn you: don't 
do it. The richest gift that Georgia has 
made to the generation is free tuition from 
mudsill to turret, and the man who strikes 
it at one place — mark my words!— will live 
to regret it, unless he dies soon. 

I come now to a liver question — removal. I mean 
a question that is in politics. In 1895 the 
question of taking away from the univer- 
sity the land scrip funds and building an 
institution at Griffin was before this house. 
It was discussed in the committee on agri- 
■culture, where every man was a farmer — 
-except Evan P. Howell — and his father was. 
In 1889 it was declared to be a matter of 
sufficient importance to cut a figure in a 
gubernatorial canapaign. The matter was 
inquired into. Two gubernatorial cam- 
paigns had occurred since then, and yet 
some were not satisfied with the results. 
Other general assemblies of this state had 
considered the question and decided that 
the proposed change was not advisable. A 
like bill was defeated before the agricul- 
tural committee of the house in 1890. In 
1894 the State Agricultural Society was ask- 
ed, on the 9th of August, to indorse such 
a movement and refused. In 1895 it did 
resolve that the experiment station should 
have the agriculttiral funds from the 
United States, but upon condition that the 
general assembly should permanently en- 
<iow the university. It linked the two rec- 
ommendations together. Nor did it favor 
removal. It only looked to a union of the 
station and fund at one place. Here is 
that proceeding: 

"Major Newman Introduced the following 
resolution: 

" 'Resolved. That the State Agriculttiral 
Society of Georgia memorialize the general 
assembly of the state to provide a liberal 
endowment of the University of Georgia, 
and that the fund known as fSe land scrip 
fund be devoted solely to the support of 
an agricultural and mechanical college in 
connection with the experiment farm.' 

"The resolution was seconded by Major 
Ryals, of Chatham, and discussed by 
Messrs. Barrow and Bailey, of Spalding, 
and others. 

"Mr. J. S. Newman amended to change 
the wording of the resolution so as to 
3nake it read, 'money received from the 



federal government,' instead of 'land scrip 
fund.' The amendment was accepted and 
the resolution adopted unanimously." 

Mr. Brown's bill provided for no endow- 
ment of the university, but left there a 
vacuum. 

The action of the Brown bill, in the com- 
mittee on agriculture in 1895, was as fol- 
lows: 

After the discussion on the bill, the fol- 
lowing resolution was passed by a vote 
of 22 yeas to 10 nays: 

"Resolved, That the committee report 
back to the house as a substitute for house 
bill No. 273 the following preamble and 
joint resolution: 

"Whereas. The house committee on gen- 
eral agriculture has carefully considered 
the condition and work of the State College 
of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, now a 
co-ordinate department of the state uni- 
versity and located at Athens, and thor- 
oughly discussed the question of its sepa- 
ration from the university, be it 

"Resolved, by the house of representa- 
tives, the senate concurring. That the gen- 
eral assembly approves and indorses the 
connection of the state college with the 
university as wise and economical and 
deprecates any further agitation of the 
subject of its removal therefrona as detri- 
mental to the good of the college and the 
educational interests of the state general- 
ly " 

In that committee on general agriculture, 
the vo'te on Howell's substitute for house 
bill No. 273 was taken November 14, 1895. 
For the substitute, 22, and against the 
substitute 10, as follows: 

Ayes — Allen of Pickens, Bell of "Webster, 
Coleman of Emanuel, Durham of Oconee^ 
Gaines of Hall, Howell of Fulton, Jarrell 
of Oglethorpe, Low of Liberty, McDaniel 
of Fannin, McGough of Monroe, McCurdy 
of DeKalb, Moore of Clayton, McWhorter 
of Greene, McDonald of Ware, Pittard of 
Oglethorpe, Smith of Hancock, Smith of 
Rockdale, Smith of Telfair, Stokes of Gil- 
mer, Thompson of Banks, Walden of 
Glascock, Vaughn of Twiggs — 22. 

Nays — Brown of Pulaski, Ferguson of 
Lee, Blair of Douglas, Dennard of Wil- 
cox, Futrell of Crawford, Gibson of Charl- 
ton, Hill of Terrell, Henderson of Forsyth, 
Sandford of Burke, Clements of Montgom- 
ery— 10. 

Absent—Collins of Tatnall, Fletcher of 
Irwin, Gregory of Murray, Hudson of 
Baker, Latham, of Campbell, Owen of 
Dooly, Roberts of Jasper, Franklin of 
White, Greer of Harris, Harvey of Bryan, 
Jones of Dodge, McClure of Dawson, Pool 
of Warren, Shaw of Berrien. 

It was never reported to the house, I be- 
lieve. 

The matter Is here again — here by men 
who beUeve it ought to be done. I am not 
questioning their honesty at all. But they 
are men who I think are mistaken, and I 
am willing for anbody to examine the 
facts and see who is right. Let us take, 
for instance, some other history, to illus- 
trate the matter. 

Manual I/abor Schools. 

In 1877, George G. Smith, Jr., of the 
North Georgia conference of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church, south, published his 
"History of Methodism in Georgia and 
Florida." The author was the grandson 
of Isaac Smith and John Howard. His 
book was dedicated to Lovick Pierce, D.D. 
Surely the ex'tract which I read from it 
will be taken as good evidence upon all 



14 



matters of interest connected with Emory 
college. 

At page 500, after having given the strug- 
gle between Culloden and Covington for 
the location of a church school, and hav- 
ing stated that Covington was selected as 
the place, and told wliat great preparations 
were made for its success, the author 
stated as follows: 

"For four years the Manual Liabor school 
progressed with almost unprecedented pop- 
ularity, such was the public desire to 
connect a knowledge of agricultural pur- 
suits with a course of literary and scien- 
tific instruction in the education of the 
young of our sex. The superintendent had 
application for admission from six sur- 
rounding states, and also from Florida, 
then a territory, and such were the urgent 
appeals to admit students from abroad 
that the conference felt itself constrained 
to pass a resolution, interdicting the ad- 
mission of pupils from other states, until 
the claims of their own people were first 
met. Indeed, the popular estimation of the 
system was such, that the superintendent 
reports that during the period mentioned, 
and up to the time of the establishment of 
Fmory college, he was constrained, for 
want of sufficiently aniple accommodation, 
and in conformity with the conference 
'resolution,' to reject probably 500 appli- 
cants from abroad. It still continued for 
about two years afterwards in active op- 
eration under the superintendence ot Rev. 
G-eorge H. Round. The college boiard then 
bought out the concern, assumed its debts, 
and the system was abandoned. It is true 
that among so large a number of students, 
promiscuously assembed and received from 
all classes of society, and during the prev- 
alence of OUT 'peculiar institution,' there 
were many pupils who were reluctant to 
conform to the rules and duties of the 
farming department. Such annoyances were 
to be expected in working out this com- 
plex regime, so novel and untried in the 
south. i3ut this was not regarded as the 
primary and fundamental cause for aban- 
doning the system. It was debt, constantly 
accumulating, inexorable debt. To keep 
the complicated machinery in motion re- 
quired the inevitable incurrence of ex- 
penses which the utmost possible clear in- 
come frona the farm proved insufficient 
to meet. To supply so large a body of in- 
experienced workers, for only three hours 
in the afternoon of each day, it became 
necessary to stock the farm with two or 
three times as many horses or mules, 
plows and gears, hoes, axes, etc., as any 
thrifty farmer would require, who could 
employ his hands in cultivation during the 
whole day, Saturday Included, but which, . 
by long standing usage in other schools— 
the students claimed. From this triple 
supply of farming implements there was 
necessarily a greater loss by breakage, 
waste, blacksmith's bills, etc., to which 
may be superadded the large annual 
amount paid to the students for every 
hour's work, and the interest on the mon- 
ey invested without corresponding returns 
from the farm. It proved to be, therefore, 
an onerous, unprofitable and losing enter- 
prise, and prudence required its abandon- 
ment. And the same fruitful sources of 
financial disaster have caused the failure 
of almost every other similar establishment 
In the north and west. Perhaps, however, 
an Institution supplied with a large 'sink- 
ing fund* or a liberal endowment might be 
warranted in reinaugurating the system, 
and thus securing the benefits which the 



combination of labor with study promises 
to bestow." 

That is the experience of one such agri- 
cultural school. And if you go now to es- 
tablish a separate institution where agri- 
culture alone shall be taught, under the 
law you may not take one dollar of the 
United States funds to build a fence or a 
gate, for the buildings not a cent. Are you 
prepared to endow another institution in- 
the state? You hear grumbling all aroun<5 
nowadays over 5-cent cotton. I here say 
in my place that agriculture is better 
taught at the university even with the 
bad equipment which we have, than you' 
would have it taught elsewhere. 

If that witness, G^eorge Smith, be not 
satisfactory because the time about which 
he spoke is long ago, let me call attention 
to Senator Morrill, the father of this sys- 
tem, a man of great learning and great in- 
fluence throughout the union, still in his 
old age a leading senator. In 1893 he said: 
"Perhaps the most expensive system of 
education of any in the world is the sys- 
tem of practical science so taught as to 
give a broader field for the industrial 
classes;" and Senator Blair, chairman of 
the committee on educational labor in the 
senate of the United States, on the 17th 
of May, 1890, said: "Perhaps, contrary to 
the general impression, the proper equip- 
ment of one of these colleges is far more 
expensive, being at least ten times greater 
than that of an ordinary classical institu- 
tion. A college of agriculture and mechanic- 
arts is not a cheap affair, and the sooner 
we awake to the idea that it will and ought 
to cost something to spread the knowledge 
of facts and principles which will change 
the drudgery of common toil to the digni- 
ty and delight of intellectual and ennobling 
occupations, the better. To accomplish thi& 
is the work of this system of institutions." 

The B'rown Committee. 

The Brown committee in the course of 
its investigation weiTt to see the equipment 
of the different rooms at the university. I 
cannot tell you just what they were, but 
they w^ill. Go into the room devoted to 
Greek, and what is its equipment? 
Benches for the boys to sit on— for we 
have no chairs. A little bookcase with the 
books that the boys have to use and the 
literature pertaining thereto: $500 would 
buy out the whole lot. Latin is about in 
the same situation. Go into our schools 
where the sciences relating to agriculture - 
and the mechanic arts are taught. Take 
the models of bridges, of houses, of walls, 
the various charts and no on toy which 
engineers are educated and their costly in-; 
struments and what is their worth? In 
my report of this year as chairman of the 
board you will notice that I mention, in 
enumerating the rooms of the new build- 
ing, a "balance room." That is a room' 
sealed up and locked, in which are kept 
balances which the air from a crack In a 
window would unbalance, so sensitive are 
they, and which cost from $450 to $1,000 
apiece. These are used in teaching chem- 
istry, etc. "Take anything related to philr 
osophy. chemistry, botany, biology, all the 
books and all the appliances worth thous- 
ands upon thousands of dollars. "Will you 
take them away from us to build elsewhere, 
where you must make a donation of at 
least $100,000 even to house them? Tou will 
never do it. never. 

It is said that you may not teach "the 
sciences related to agriculture" without a 



15 



farm. I admit you cannott do it well. t 
have seen, however, good cooks who had 
nothing but an oven and a lid on which 
they made excellent bread, on which some 
of us were brought up. They could have 
cooked better on a stove, still better on a 
range. Some may have thought that fire 
made of coals was better than the wood 
fire— that fire made by gas was still better. 

You may teach a student astronomy, the 
names and positions of the planets and 
constellations and their courses and rela- 
tions without, but you can do it better 
with an orrery You can do it better with 
telescopes. But they cost thousands of 
dollars. 

Now, you have two farms in Georgia. 
One is an experimental farm simply, not 
to teach anybody anything. It is to prac- 
tice experiments, that is the language of 
the United States, and your language in 
the act accepting the gift, etc. I admit 
that if a student saw the experiments it 
would help him, like the cook would be 
helped by working with the fine gas 
range, or the student of astronomy by 
using the ejxpensive telescopes, etc. But 
the station is not necessary to education, 
not necessary to a high order of educa- 
tion. What is wanted for a high order of 
education is a model farm where agricul- 
tural instruction may be aided by demon- 
stration. And we now have a farm of 
that kind connected with a. chemical lab- 
oratory and a collection of biological speci- 
mens and other appliances for teaching 
the sciences related to agriculture, not 
bought by that fund, for you took most 
of it and sent it down to Griffin. 

Thi.s thing is not new. It has been tried. 

South Carolina, after having ruined her 
university by passing laws allowing white 
and colored men to be educated together 
there, and thereby bringing it down In 
public estimation, did make a separation, 
but kept together its agricultural and its 
mechanical schools. It had, to enable it 
to do this, the Clemson donation of his 
farm of 800 acres of improved land and 
other property worth over $100,000 (which 
by Clemson's will could not pass without 
establishing the agricultural and mechani- 
cal schools both on that farm), and all 
proceeds of the Hatch bill of 1887 and half 
of the proceeds from the Morrill bill (the 
other half the negro college has), and the 
large annual appropriations by the state 
without which, or its equivalent, no such 
success as is claimed for that college in 
South Carolina could be had. Besides, in 
South Carolina, that is a new experiment, 
begun only in 1890. They began wit.h over 
800 students. In 1894 they had fallen to «12. 
of whom only 122 were in agricultural 
courses. In 1895, we are informed, they 
had. all told, considerably less than 300 
students; how many in agricultural courses 
we do not know. It is both agricultural 
and technological. In the only act we 
found in 1895 on the subject it had an ap- 
propriation of $7,965.81 as annual interest 
on the Clemson fund, plus $50,000, plus 
$53,562 special fertilizer tax, making a total 
of $111,527.81 for one year. See Repts. and 
R. of So. Ca.. page 383. 

Tlie lyEisslssippi School. 

I know that Mississippi has one that Is 
comparatively successful, but it is but 
comparatively so and this curriculum is 



low. Here is the report of ten years of ita- 
proceedings. I show you what they turn 
put. M<ark you, now, both agriculture and. 
the mechanic arts are taught there. Here 
is the report of 1890-91, reviewing what 
they had done for ten years. They had 
that year 275 students. The year before 
they had 282, the year before that 319— fall- 
ing off, as you will observe. Let us see: 
"Occupations of graduates," statistics lor 
the ten years previous show farmers 13. 
teachers 14, lawyers 11. Eacli farmer had 
a lawyer ready to start with. Farming 
with other occupations 7, perhaps they 
were lawyers; dairymen 6, engaged in 
agriculture and experiment stations 3 — em^ 
ployed at their three stations perhaps; 
creameries 3, bookkeepers 6. merchants 4. 
engrneers 4, physicians 2, clerks 1, medical 
students 7. The total in ten years was &1. 
Of that 275 in attendance in 1891-92 I am not 
sure that I have the amount correctly, but 
I think that over half of them were in. 
what was called the "preparation school," 
preparing to get inside of the walls. 

Take the institution for the past year 
and it is the same way. Eight graduates, 
agricultural seniors 11, mechanic seniors 4, 
agricultural juniors 10, mechanic 7, agricul-* 
tural sophomores 32. mechanic 10, fresh- 
men 86 and preparatory 145, out of a total 
of 368. Half are studying in agriculture 
and half in technology. Its university has 
more farmers' sons than has the agricul-^ 
tural school they are already supporting. 
They have their agricultural and tech- 
nological instruction both iu the same in- 
stitution, and all that they can muster 
today is 368, 145 of whom are children in 
the preparatory school, and they admit fe- 
males also. That school has been in 
progress since 1880, seventeen years, and 
that is what they have produced. It costs^ 
the state annually many thousands of dol- 
lars. I do not mean to decry it. I am 
merely telling you that the fancy notion 
that you can have an adequate agricultural 
college and still leave the university unin- 
jured is a mistake that will work the ruin 
of the university and of the educational 
interests of the state. 

In this which I now say I am not speak- 
ing authoritatively, but I believe I speak 
the sentiment of every member of this 
board: If it did not hurt the university 
for you to take the money and establish a 
separate agricultural college, and I were 
In the igeneral assembly, I would vote 
against it every time. Why? Because It 
makes a distinction between the sons of 
the farmers 8*nd the sons of everybody else. 
Why? Because you propose to give the 
farmer's son an education not equal +o the 
education of his neighbors. It is said that 
old Brother Hunnicutt had but two "field 
students." That is true. His language Is, 
"I had but two that would take my whole 
course." I have not seen it reported; 
that was what he said when I was present 
in the Brown committee. I supposp th^v 
-will report it. He said: "I have a class in 
botanv of «verfls:e 60." An<^ if that is so, 
hp is teaching them agriculture. He ad- 
mits the farm is not good. Why? Because 
we gave fifteen acres of the best land ana 
the houses on i/t to the state of Georgia 
for a normal college and cut the farm in 
two. But he and we have been trying since 
six years ago to get a better farm, and 
the reason we haven't done it is that it 



16 



has been hard to sell the oM. Now we 
have an excellent one. In his last report 
he said — and it was w^hen we had the oild 
farm and hadn't bought tne new one— 
"Make my annual $500 appropriation and I 
will make this farm, the bad one that I 
have got, a proper and agreeable place to 
make all that is right for teaching demon- 
Siti*a Lively, a model farm for teaching these 
tstudents." 

He may not be a good witness on that 
subject. Some of you may te better farm- 
ers than he; but since that time we have 
bought a better farjn. Some people have 
said that they have prodded us to buy it. 
We have the written records that we have 
been trying for six years, besides our char- 
ecters to answer such a charge. You know 
how difficult it has been to make negotia- 
tions in the past few years. And we have 
had to maneuver, and have had to buy 
the new farm with our own money. You 
have rever appropriated that $24,200 to buy 
a farm. It is said that the professor lost 
$75, I think about that sum, on his farm 
last year. L#et only everj' farmer who 
didn't lose something on his farm last 
year vote against us. and we will get a 
majority. 

Professor Hunnicutt. 

When I desired to find out when and how 
he got before the Bialock committee, he 
wrote me (I have his letter) that he was 
over here in Atlanta helping about some 
books, etc., and it w^as suggested by Mr. 
Bialock that as he., was here he might 
answer some questions before the com- 
mittee. He was rot questioned thoroughly 
upon all these things. You never could get 
him to admit that that farm was a splendid 
farm, because it was not. But you turn 
him loose in fhe farm we have now, and he 
will tell you that he can make it hum, and 
that he can teach boys all about agricul- 
ture. 

I admit that he may think it had better 
be moved somewhere else. He is only one 
man, and if his opinion is better than ours, 
take it. Dr. Boggs comes and says he is 
in favor of female education, etc. A peti- 
tion was presented to our board to grant 
female education at the university. What 
did we say? We said we submit to our 
masters, the legislature, whether they want 
it. Could you blame us because Dr. Boggs 
said so and so, or Dr. Hunnicutt said so 
and so? We are responsible to you, and 
they to us, and it is just as important to 
keep things in regular order in the depart- 
ment of the university and of the govern- 
iment as it is in the army. Their private 
opinions should not control you or our 
tooard. 

The state unwisely scatters Instead of 
concentiating its educational funds. Our 
Methodists are "wiser In their generation." 
They recently declared: "In discharging 
the duty of supervising and giving direc- 
tion, so fa,r as the power extends, to the 
great work of education by our church, it 
will be the aim of the board — 

"1. To promote the endow^ment of exist- 
ing colleges which have the elements of 
success and the necessary conditions of 
usefulness. 

"2. To repress the tendency to multiply 
institutions with inadequate prospects of 
support, which has strewed our territory 
with more dead colleges than we have now 
in operation, and dragged to the dust with 
them the credit of indorsing conferences." 

Mr. President, I must cease to speak very 
soon. I have tried in feeble "vtay to place 



these things before the general assembly. 
I have no earthly interest that is not com- 
mon to every one of you, in education in 
the state of Q-eorgia. Born and bred here, 
I expect to laj^ my bones aown by the side 
of my father's^ on our old soil. I will have 
jno monument. I expect my memory to be 
blotted out, and my space to be filled by 
others. Old Jefferson said: "I wish it put 
on my monument, 'He founded the Univer- 
sity of Virginia.' " So I, wish my friends to 
say of me that while he lived he toiled for 
>eduoation in his istate, for free education 
to every son, and when time can bring it 
about, to every daughter in the land. (Ap- 
plause.) I would tell you, if necessary, to 
put your hands into the purse of, the state 
to help t'he university, bult for G-od's sake, 
and for the (sake of youn children and your 
grandchildren, don't rob it! Whether the 
fund is legally where it is, is a question for 
the) judges, and mot for the law makers. 
Let the university keep its fund. Let it 
feel at least that the people of Georgia 
appreciate its worth, for its history and 
for what it has done. 

If there be any member of the board of 
trustees who will not do his duty when 
commanded, take off his head, and fill his 
place with a man who will; but for God's 
sake spare the head of the Institution. 
That is your property. That Is where the 
foundation of your greatness was laid; not 
becausal we would injure Jumory or Mercer 
or any other institution. Let the eagles 
tly all logetuer, and excite the ambition 
of every child in all, the land for a com- 
plete education. 

And when I think of sainted old Bishop 
Pierce, with a brow as brave as an arch- 
angel's, looking at those picking at thi& 
old eagle and undertaking to pull Emory 
above in its flight, by pulling the feathers 
from the wings of the university— and see 
his utterances of 1852 used to mar the 
present friendly harmony in Georgia — I 
know that his righteous indignation is 
boiling over. B would to God that I could 
have him here before this body, and ask 
him to stand in your presence and answer 
the question, "What would you do, sainted 
bishop?" 

I am, done. I ask you to look into thesb 
affairs closely, carefully, honestly. I know 
you will. The duty of a legislator is a 
fvery high one. Have you ever thought of 
how it has been described by that great 
ipoet, Virgil, when painting the scenes upon 
the shield of Aeneas? How slight a dilfer- 
ence it makes betweei pandemonium and 
Iheaven? Here is a man tied to a rock, and 
beneath his feet are hi.-siug furies. That 
is Cataline, the triitor, and tJiat is hell. 
Here is one other man only sitting un- 
covered, with an honest, brave brow, and 
Dothing around him but his glorified coun- 
tenance. It Is the holy ghost of Cato 
dispensing laws. That was the way, many 
hundred years ago, the thought of the world 
esteemed the high office of a law maker. 
Take no thought on either side of this great 
question without investigation. Sometimes 
the slightest mark changes the whole cur- 
rent of thought and fact. The painter 
depicts upon the canvas a beautiful bended 
woman with falling hair, and in her hand 
a box. That is Pandora turning loose upon 
the world all the ills that ever existed. 
Throw around her head only a circle, and 
it is Mary Magdalene, the saint, whom, the 
Lord forgave, and who today In her ex- 
ample is the hope of the whole world. 
Watch closely. See that you make no 



17 



mistake about the facts. Take Solomon's 
advice: "My son, look straight on." Shoot 
from a rifle straight to the mark, and do 
not scatter like an old blunderbuss. 

Come down to the real investigation of 
the question. Make no vote until all the 
reports are printed, and all the evidence Is 
pnnted. Investigate most thoroughly upon 
•all the light you have, and upon your oaths 
to support the constitution, and when you 
shall have done it, the glad acclaim will 
go out over these old hills and vales, and 
men, women and children will shout: "Once 
more the university is safe. Thank God for 
free education for me and mine." (Long 
applause.) 

At the conclusion of Mr. Hammond's 
speech the following occurred : 

Representative Little : "I move that if there is 
any member of the General Assembly who desires 
to ask him or anv member of the Board of Trustees 
any questions that he may be permitted to do so." 

President Berner : "I understand that the Chair- 
man of the Board of Trustees and the Board stand 
ready to answer any question that anv Represent- 
ative or any Senator may choose to ask them." 

No questions were asked. 

s 

REV. DR. FELTON'S SPEECH. 

After loud calls of "Felton," Senator Battle said : 
"I move that this joint session do hear from Dr. 
Felton." This was unanimously adopted. 

Pres'dent Berner: "I have the pleasure of in- 
troducing to you Dr. William H. Felton, the old 
man eloquent of this commonwealth." 

Dr. Felton said : 
Gentlemen of the General Assembly : 

My physical disabilities prevent my standing 
while addressing you, and this I ask you to excuse. 

(The speaker alluded to other scenes in this leg- 
islative nail in which he had been an actor.) 

Mr. President and Gentlemen : I am a Georgian, 
a native Georgian. Since 1765 I and my immedi- 
ate family have lived upon Georgia soil. I am a 
farmer, as all my fathers were. From the dny I 
left school I have devoted myself to agriculture. 
I am an Alumnus of the University of the State of 
Georgia, and I say here, with all earnestness, pro- 
priety and correctness, that I am absolutely loyal 
to Georgia, loyal to agriculturists, and loyal to the 
University of your State. (Applause.) 

I say here intelligently, understandingly, that I 
believe that the prosperity of the University and 
of our beloved State are so indissolubly connected, 
so interwoven with each other, that if you impair 
or strike down the one, you will work irreparable 
injury to the other. 

I feel like Judge Story, when he remarked, speak- 
ing of Christianity and the Government of the 
United States, that there was no established relig- 
ion and should not be, that there was no law 
which did exist, or should ever exist, connecting 
the Government and Christianity, but substan- 
tially he stated that Christianity and the United 
States Government are so interwoven with each 
other that whenever you strike down the one you 
strike down the whole. 

And I answer here to-day thai the University of 
Georgia, its history and its career, is so interwoven 
with the history and career of Georgia that when- 
ever you strike the University you strike dowi) and 
irreparably destroy and mar the glory of Georgia. 

I could not excel bur honored Chairman, Colonel 
Hammond, when he dwelt upon this and upon the 
glory of this State, and the University of this State. 
I remember that in 1838, nearly sixty years ago, I 
entered that University as a freshman, graduating 
in 1842, Take simply the contemporaries of my 
brief four years in that University. (He spoke 
then of Rev. Benjamin Palmer, Prof, LeConte, 
Thomas R. R Cobb, Benjamin H, Hill,) 



And I say here to-day : strike down that School, 
remove its funds, build your separate school for 
farmers only, emasculate this grand monument of 
Georgia's history— and I say you will well nigh 
irreparably damage and ruin and destroy the glory 
of Georgia's achievements. 

I am a farmer. I want every farmer educated. 
It is the sincere purpose of my life, the sincere ob- 
ject of my public career ; but, my friends, let me 
say that an educated farmer is only, in my judg- 
ment, an educated man who has turned his atten- 
tion specifically to agriculture. (Applause.) 

An educated farmer— a school for farmers. Well, 
no objection to farmers having a school. Call it a 
farmers' school. But, I say, can you educate a man 
as a larmer without educating him as a man ? 
What constitutes skill, or experience, or anything 
that IS valuable as connected with the farmers 
labor? You must make him familiar with chem- 
istry, with geology, with biology— with every 
branch of science that makes the educated man; 
and when you have the educated man, and place 
him upon the farm, he is the educated farmer. 
(Applause.) 

Some months ago I read a little communication 
from the honorable gentleman from Pulaski, Col. 
Brown. It appeared, I think, in some of the At- 
lanta papers. He had been away from here — over 
in Mississippi— to examine into the Agricultural 
College of Mississippi, and he came back perfecly 
enthusiastfc over the great success of the Missis- 
sippi Agricultural School. A thorough education 
could be obtained there, he said ; and he gave us 
an object lesson : The President's son (a Mr. Lee, I 
believe), had graduated at that school an accom- 
plished scholar at this school of agriculture in 
Mississippi, and now, says the honorable gentle- 
man from Pulaski, he studied law, and has become 
a professor of law in the Chicago University. 
(Laughter and applause.) 

He urged the establishment of a similar school in 
Georgia, that tne graduates might tackle the un- 
seemly brier patches of Georgia. I want to inquire 
how hHs the bright and promising graduate of the 
Mississippi college tackled the brier patches of Mis- 
sissippi? (Laughter and applause.) 

(He alluded to Mr. Berner and Gov. Atkinson as 
former colleagues ) 

I wanted to meet with this General Assembly. I 
wanted to come before them as a Georgian and a 
farmer, with all the sincerity of my heart loving 
the University and praving for its advancement, 
day in and day out— praying that, whatever may 
be the results of the future, the loving wing of the 
everlasting God may shelter old Georgia. (Ap- 
plause.) 

I want to beg this General Assembly— Georgiar s 
like myself — many of them farmers like myself — 
many of them, I have no doubt, loyal and true to 
the University :— I want to beg them, in the name 
of Georgia, in the name of your constituency— five- 
cent cotton has made us all alike poor— save this 
public fund from change or damage, and the edu- 
cational system and the educational advantages 
of Georgia from everlasting wreckage by remov- 
ing this public fund. Do not do it, fellow Geor- 
gians. Do not do it, legislators of the State. I 
pray you, touch not this sacred fund— sacred to 
intellect and intellectual culture of the people of 
Georgia. 

Col. Hammond has told you whenever you re- 
move this fund, the effect will be to strike down 
free education in Georgia ; that is the end. 

Technological School, and Industrial School at 
Milledgeville would have to charge tuition too. 

But God forbid the day you write over the en- 
trance of every educational institution 4n Georgia 
these words: " The poor cannot come here." God 
forbid ! 

Are you ready to return the making of these 
laws, to turn its scholars, to turn it all over to the 
Methodists of the State of Georgia ? God forbid ! 
No, sir. I know that you will not do it. Open all 
these to the industrious and meritorious of your 




18 



"State. Tell all the young men and women of your 
State, too often engaged in the merest drudgery to 
sustain life, that nere they may obtain an educa- 
tion free of charge by the State. Let the message go 
forth from the action of this body in this hall, go 
forth to every poor girl and boy in Georgia : "Look 
to ufefor your education. Yonder you can get edu- 
cation free, free at the Industrial School, free at 
the Technological school, free at the University, 
free everywhere. Georgia appropriates its public 
funds for the education of is children." 

I assert to-day that this fund should be preserved 
because it gives free education in the Srate of 
Georgia. I assert to-day that if you remove the 
public funds from that institution you destroy the 
University of this State. That is all. These small 
private benefactions will not support the Univer- 
sity of our State. They will not support the public 
institutions of Georgia. 

If there are defects there, order them removed. 
If you have football, baseball, dancing, and you 
don't want them, order their suppression. You 
are the supreme masters of that University. We, 
the trustees, are your servants, to obey, and the 
Chancellor and every member of the Faculty and 
every member of this Board of Trustees can be 
.removed in an hour by this Honorable General 
As-embly. 

Because a man who had a fine house found a 



defect in it, would he therefore raze it to the 
ground ? Those men who propose to pull down 
the University are acting just like that foolish man 
would do. Order it adjusted according to your 
will. Make it all that Georgians would have it be. 
That is the point. That is what we ask ; that is 
what we desire. If you want agriculture advanced, 
why, advance it. If you want any particular study 
given more attention, order it done. I pray you 
as masters not to pull down and ruin and everlast- 
ingly blast it, but to improve it and make it all 
that you and your constituents would have it. 

Pardon me, Mr. President, I must close. I only 
meet here as a Georgian ; I only talk to you as a 
Georgian. I have no childron to educate there. 
I have no personal interest, but I am a Georgian, 
and there is nothing on earth that gives me more 
pleasure than to say that. Wherever I go and 
wherever I am in the future, it will always be the 
pride of my life to say: I am a Georgian. (Ap- 
plause.) 

Keep it worthy of Georgia. Make it worthy of 
your grand old Commonw^ealth. You have the 
means, you have the authority, you are the 
supreme masters of that University ; now come 
up and make it, I repeat, worthy of Georgia. But 
never, I pray you, touch one dollar of its endow- 
ment to remove. Never destroy it, as you value 
the honor and glory of your State. (Applause.) 



^^ 



SPKECH 



or 



HON. N. J. HAMMOND, LLD., 



Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the 
University of Georgia. 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE JOINT SESSION OF THE 
GENERAL ASSEMBLY NOVEMBER 17, 1897. 



** The question of the child should displace that of the criminal; 
the building up of our people more important than that which treated 
of their falling down." 




ATLANTA, GA. 

(Franklin Printing and Publishing Company,) 

Geo. W. Harrison, State Printer. 

1897. 



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